Senator Susan Collins has been plying her trade in Washington for nearly three decades now. One of her biggest tricks is advancing unpopular, even disastrous Republican legislation just so she can vote against it later and claim that her “moderate” status is still intact.
In the case detailed below, the corruption, the quid pro quo, was so blatant and obvious that it could well come back to bite her on the ass.
Source: Rolling Stone
Sen. Susan Collins did not vote for President Donald Trump’s signature piece of legislation, his so-called Big Beautiful Bill, a massive package of tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans financed by slashing an estimated $1 trillion from Medicaid.
“I did the right thing for the people of Maine, and I am proud of my no vote,” Collins told a local outlet after the bill passed in July.
But before she voted against it, Collins cast a critical vote to advance the legislation, which is projected to kick at least 10 million people off their health insurance — and she cast that vote just one day after private equity billionaire Steve Schwarzman, the chair of the Blackstone Group and a man who will personally reap huge rewards from the bill, kicked in $2 million toward her reelection effort.
On June 27, Schwarzman gave $2 million to Pine Tree Results PAC, a Super PAC backing Collins; on June 28, Collins cast a decisive vote allowing Trump’s bill to advance to the floor. The vote was 51-49. Vice President J.D. Vance was present at the Capitol, on hand to break a tie, but was not needed after Collins voted in favor of the bill.
The bill went on to pass the Senate just a few days later, to Schwarzman’s presumed delight, since the legislation both extended the pass-through business deduction — treasured by the owners of private equity firms — and made it permanent, allowing partnerships to deduct 20 percent of their pretax income. Blackstone did not respond to a request for comment.
Blatantly corrupt indeed.
